In a setback to the Congress in Telangana, senior party leader D Srinivas today joined the ruling TRS, holding it would suit him to strive for realising the dream of "golden Telangana."
A former Congress president of the undivided Andhra Pradesh, Srinivas joined the TRS in the presence of party president and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao here.
Srinivas had served as the state Congress president twice and also as a minister in undivided Andhra Pradesh. He was the president of Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee when the party assumed power under the leadership of late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy in 2004.
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He is the second former AP Congress president to quit the party in the aftermath of its defeat in 2014 elections. Botsa Satyanarayana, who also served as president of Andhra Pradesh Congress in undivided AP, had left the party and joined YSR Congress in neighbouring AP.
Speaking on the occasion, Rao said Srinivas' move to join the TRS should not be seen as a routine political move, but an effort to strive for a glorious Telangana.
"There should be a general consensus among political leadership of the state on certain key issues like prosperity of Telangana as it is a new state that came into existence with lots of hopes and aspirations," the Chief Minister said.
This is important as neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and its Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu allegedly continued to create troubles for the new-born state, he said.